


Crickets

by kayamalie



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Hurt, M/M, Oneshot, SHEITH - Freeform, Shiro - Freeform, Unrequited Love, barely beta'd lol, keith - Freeform, shiroxkeith, twitterprompt, vld
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-30 07:56:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17219984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kayamalie/pseuds/kayamalie
Summary: Shiro reconnects with Keith years after the war.Based on a tweet from @robatically on Twitter:"lowkey... if anyone knows a fic where keith falls out of love/moves on and shiro finally starts pining... hmu.  I love fluff... but... angst fuels me"https://twitter.com/robatically/status/1079062855159291905





	Crickets

Shiro considers hanging up, but he’s already dialed the number. It’s already ringing. He doesn’t even remember the time difference between Earth and Daibazaal and now he’s irritated that he apparently couldn’t be assed to check before calling.

It’s around midnight on Earth. Crickets are chirping merrily and Curtis has long since gone to bed, but Shiro hasn’t been able to sleep well for weeks. Something has been eating away at him - something he’s not sure calling Keith will fix, but it’s the only idea he has.

There’s a click, and Lance’s face suddenly appears on screen.

“Hey buddy!” He says, “Long time no see! How ya been?”

“Lance?” Shiro frowns, “I…I’m alright I suppose. I’m sorry, I must’ve dialed wrong. I, uh…I meant to call Keith.”

“No no, you called the right number!” Lance says, “I’m on Daibazaal right now, crashing at Keith’s place. He requested my help with the Blades’ humanitarian efforts.” Lance breaks into his signature cocky grin. “Says my ‘agricultural knowledge’ is needed to help some of the refugees cultivate their own resources. So here I am to save the day, yet again!”

Years ago, Shiro would groan at Lance’s pride, but tonight it hits him with a wave of nostalgia. “That’s really nice, Lance.” He says, “I’m proud of you for putting your skills to use for the good of others.”

“Heh, you haven’t changed a bit.” Lance replies, “You still sound just like the fearless Leader of Team Voltron. By the way, how’s retirement going? Have you toured the galaxies yet?”

“I’ve been a few places, but for now we’ve settled back on Earth, in the tropics.” Shiro shifts nervously. As nice as it is, catching up with Lance isn’t why he called. “Is… is Keith…around?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah. He’s making breakfast right now. We have a looonggg day of logistics meetings coming up.” Lance rolls his eyes and mouths “kill me”.

“Well… can I speak with him, please?”

“Alright, alright.” Lance tilts his head back and takes a gulp of air, “HEY! KEITH!”

“LANCE, I TOLD YOU TO STOP YEL-”

“SHIRO’S CALLING!”

There’s muffled clatter from another room, followed by rapid footsteps. Keith’s voice comes out clearer, more urgent.

“Shiro!? What’s wrong, what’s happening?” Keith’s figure appears and pushes Lance aside gently, his troubled face appearing before the camera moment’s later.

Shiro’s joy of seeing his longtime friend again is crushed by the realization of what their relationship has come to. After months (years, if you really get down to it) of silence, of course Keith would think that the only reason Shiro would call him is for an emergency.

“At ease, Keith.” Shiro replies, “Nothing’s wrong. I’m just…checking in.”

“Oh…” Keith’s face falls from a tense expression to one of confusion. Awkward silence ensues, with neither of the former Black Paladins really knowing what to say. Lance glances curiously between them.

“Is breakfast ready?” Lance finally asks, starling Keith slightly. The dark haired male nods, and Lance stretches. “Weeelll then, I’m gonna go dig in. You two have fun catching up, okay?”

It’s just for a moment, but Shiro is sure he sees the tiniest of smirks on Lance’s face before he departs.

The door clicks shut and Keith takes a seat in Lance’s spot. His eyes are lowered, unsure where to look. “How…” He starts nervously, “How have you been?”

Shiro takes just a moment to look Keith over. It’s been around ten months since their last meal under Allura’s statue. His hair has gotten even longer - it’s slightly damp from a recent shower and braided messily. The scar on Keith’s face has lightened just a bit with age, but Shiro knows it will remain with him forever. He doesn’t like to remember how Keith got it.

“I’m doing alright.” Shiro lies, “How about yourself?”

“Uh, busy, I guess.” Keith sits up a little straighter, like he’s giving a status update. “There’s a lot of work to be done, fixing the damage from the war.”

“You’re doing great work, Keith.” Shiro says, “I’m really proud of you.”

Keith’s worried expression returns - it’s sweet, almost doe-eyed. Shiro can’t remember Keith ever giving this expression to anyone but him, and he lets himself feel a little smug about that.

“Are you sure you’re okay, Shiro?” Keith says, “You look… tired. And, uh… well, it’s unexpected for you to call me.”

Ouch. Shiro didn’t expect that to hurt as much as it does. He runs a hand through his hair and sighs. “I guess I’ve been a little distressed lately. I just… I want to apologize to you. A lot of things happened during the war and I put some distance between us. I don’t think we ever really recovered from that…”

Keith finally looks at Shiro dead on. “No, it… it made sense. Especially since I came at you suddenly with… a lot of emotions. It wasn’t the right time for me to confess something like that to you. I didn’t mean to burden you with my-”

“You didn’t burden me.” Shiro interjects, “It was awful of me to push your feelings aside and change our relationship because of it. I’m sorry, Keith. I’m sorry for everything. I didn’t think any less of you for liking me, I just didn’t…”

“Reciprocate, I know.” Keith sighs. “It’s okay, Shiro. Really. I’m fine now. I’ve made my peace with it.”

“Oh.” Is all Shiro can say. He realizes now why he called. He had been so quick to push away Keith’s confession. He distracted himself with other things, refused to let himself think about it. He helped save the universe and married Curtis and left Keith in the past, but… he was just running from emotions he didn’t know he had.

Shiro doesn’t want Keith to make peace with their distance. He doesn’t want Keith to move on. He almost has to bite his tongue to stop the onslaught of “I’m sorry” and “I love you” and “I’ve always loved you” that threatens to leave his lips. The weight of these words is crushing him, but it’s too late now.

“Shiro?” Keith is giving him that worried look again.

“...can we start again?” Shiro hates the break in his voice. “I feel like we… _I_ left something good behind. You’ve been my dearest friend for a long time, Keith. I want to go back to that. Please…”

Keith finally smiles at him, but it’s a little sad. “Of course, Shiro. Whenever you need me, you can call. I will always have time for you.”

There’s a knock on the door, followed by Lance’s voice. “Keith, we gotta get going.”

“Alright, I’ll be right out.” Keith leans in towards the screen a bit, his eyes searching Shiro’s weary face. “Try to get some rest, okay? We can continue this conversation later.”

“Sure.” Shiro sighs, “Good luck picking Lance’s brain today, there’s a lot of dead space in there.”

“I HEARD THAT!” Lance’s voice calls.

Keith laughs and the brief sound puts Shiro at ease for a moment. “Good night, Shiro.”

“Good morning, Keith.”

The screen goes dark and Shiro lets his head fall into his hands, the sound of the crickets serving as a soundtrack to his heartache.

**Author's Note:**

> It's been awhile since I've written fanfiction so... sorry if it's garbage LOL. I just love Sheith and this prompt


End file.
